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What I talk about is really simple because it is about life. Life, for so many people has become incredibly complicated. We are all drowning in the sea of definitions. A simple question is asked: "Who are you?" And the number of answers you get is unimaginable.
Recently, I was speaking somewhere and they had this motto: "Service above the self." I said, "But if there is no self, what is it going to serve? There has to be a self." This is what Socrates said: "Know thyself." What does it mean to know the self that you are?
I have a simple little story that my father used to tell. One day, a farmer was walking through a jungle and he came across a tiny lion cub that had been lost. He picked it up, brought it home, and put it in the barn with his sheep. As time passed, the cub got bigger and bigger, playing and grazing with the sheep. This was all he knew.
One day, while the sheep were grazing, a big lion stepped out from the jungle. All the sheep got scared and started running around, and so did the little lion. The big lion went over to this little lion, who wasn't that little any more, and said, "Why are you scared of me?" He said, "I am a poor little sheep, and you will eat me!" The lion said, "You're not a sheep. Come with me." He took him to a pond and said, "Now, look." And when he looked, he was shocked: "I'm not a sheep. I am like you!"
The lion said, "That's right. You are like me. Now stop mimicking sheep and roar like a big lion should." So the big lion roared and the little lion roared. And the little lion began to thank the big lion. And the lion said, "All I did was show you who you truly are. Even before I stepped out of that jungle, this is who you were, because this is what you truly are."
We, too, lose who we are on the face of this earth. Your ability to feel joy is unique. This is your nature—a part of you. You have an aversion to suffering and an attraction to joy. Then find in your life the joy that never ends, the joy that you cannot leave behind, the joy that you carry with you wherever you go.
If you have a boat and want to dock it in the harbor, you need to tie it to something that will not drift. That's why people bring an anchor with them. What is it that does not drift? To find the answer, you need to be able to know your true self, because the true self does not drift. In thought, the lion was a sheep, but when he could see the reality, he understood that he was not a sheep.
Your reality is simple. The want to be fulfilled has always been there. The want to be content has always been there. That is not new. And this want will be there till the very end. It is there from the beginning; it is there to the end. That want to be in peace does not change. That thirst to be fulfilled does not change. Anchor then to that reality, and you will not drift. Anchor to that beauty that is inside of you, and you will not drift. Everything else will change as it always has. As it always will.
Everything keeps changing, but you. There is something about you that does not change. Find the changeless. And tie well this boat of life to the changeless. Then, relax.
Maharaji
in Maharaji: Life, Maharaji: Peace | Permalink
There is something that we are all given plenty of, but it's never enough. What is it? Time. We're given lots of it, but we want more. Everybody pretends they don't have enough of it, and it just keeps coming. All the time we get is ours, but we don't get to keep any of it. It comes and goes, and the only thing we are left with is what we do in that time.
What should we do in that time? We are such "Do" creatures that we forget certain fundamental things. We are driven to do so much. So much of what we think we have to do is not from us, it's from somebody else. For once, it would be nice to feel what we really want to do and the quest come from within, not driven by the outside world.
There is another quest, something that moves and inspires each human being. And that is the desire to be fulfilled—not in thought, not in imagination, but in earnest. Peace—the state where there is no confusion, that place which doesn't dwell on tomorrow, but now, where the value of presence is true, and the value of absence is nothing. That there is an understanding of what it means to be alive. What a gift.
What is so special about a human being? It has been said that this is the doorway to knowing how to tap into peace—a peace that resides in every human being. It's not about the good and bad, winning and losing. It's not about solving problems, because every time you have solved a problem, there will be another one. It's feeling the gift that we all have been given.
We have had a dream for a really, really long time—a spectacular dream, an incredible dream which said, "Be in peace." Not fear, not doubt, not pain, not sorrow, not confusion, but clarity. To feel that understanding, to be in joy, to be in reality. True reality is a feeling.
What is your reality? Your reality is that you exist but one day, you won't. It's not about your plans. There's only one game you can play, and it is the game of being fulfilled. That's it. When you awaken and feel your heart full of gratitude, when you awaken and feel peace, you know you are winning. Whenever you feel that, you just won.
The call for peace cannot come from the intellect. It has to come from the heart. Peace is the reward. Joy is the reward. A life fulfilled. That is the most incredible reward, the highest honor.
The quest for peace is always noble, because there's no end to it. It is the truest victory for every human being. It is not about all the deserts you could cross or the mountain you could climb. It is about feeling, admiring the space within. This is life, not the things that happen in it.
Feel the ultimate feeling. When you dig an endless mine, it really doesn't matter how much you've gotten out of it. The only thing you can do is just keep digging and digging and digging. Till you can't.
Feel peace in your life every day. Feel gratitude in your life every day. When you have that contentment, you truly have a life. That's how simple it is.Maharaji
